2013: Ohana

Kevin Klose is a super star co-host on The Dis, a podcast and webepisode that provides information about Walt Disney World. Kevin is the show's food critic, and he has little good to say about dinner at Disney's Ohana. Ohana is a restaurant inside the Polynesian Resort across the lake near the Magic Kingdom. Kevin has the perspective of dinning at other similarly priced restaurants, so, I respect his opinion. I rarely (if ever?) eat at a $30-$40 per plate restaurant, so, I have little to compare Ohana to.

On Tuesday after work, we went to Ohana for dinner. We made the reservations months in advance because this is a popular restaurant. When seated, they begin bringing you food, and the food doesn't stop until you cry UNCLE! At which point they begin bringing you desert.

Dinner started with a salad covered in fruit and with bread. Followed by chicken wings and pot stickers. Then veggies and noodles. For the boys, they received a platter stacked with hamburgers and fries (special request that was nicely honored with the greatest customer service). That filled us. But that wasn't the main course. The main course is all you can eat chicken, steak, pork, and shrimp, brought to your table on skewers. The pork was pork. The steak was steak. And the chicken was to die for. You would expect the steak to be incredible, but it was cooked well done and was OK, but not fabulous. That is one of Kevin Klose';s largest complaints - the steak is not that good. I didn't care because I was eating the fabulous grilled chicken.

During the dinner, we were entertained by a singer that taught the kids how to dance and performed a coconut race. All the while we had a perfect view of the Magic Kingdom castle out the dinning room window.

After dinner, we walked down to the Polynesian Beach, found some comfortable chairs, and settled in to watch the Disney fireworks. The best place to watch the fireworks is on Main Street within the Magic Kingdom. The second best place is to rent a boat and go onto the lake and watch them. The third best place is on the Polynesian Beach!

Just one problem. I have previously written that Disney does a great job with bug control. They do. But their bug control doesn't apply to mosquitoes. During a visit in 2010, I was eaten alive by a flock of mosquitoes while waiting for a Disney bus. This year, while sitting on the beach, the mosquitoes ascended and attacked and took more than their fair share out of us all.

While waiting for the Fireworks, the Polynesian resort was showing Monsters Inc on a large blow-up projection screen. Then, the fireworks started. The Polynesian resort plays a synchronized audio track for the fireworks that matches the audio within the Magic Kingdom, but is delayed to account for the two mile distance. The show was spectacular!

Stuffed and happily entertained, we followed the maze of sidewalks (getting lost only twice) back to the parking lot and headed home. I might have just lost another notch in my belt an I might have caught malaria, but I had an incredibly magic evening.